Our First Saturday in New Zealand

Today was our third day and first Saturday in New Zealand and we are going to Akaroa (Aah- kah- row- a).  We passed by Lake Ellesmere and saw black swans, pukekoe (puh-keh-koe) and lots of other birds that live there.  All of the native animals to New Zealand originally were birds.  Settlers brought with them other animals like sheep, cattle, dogs and many animals that turned into pests like rabbits, possums and deer.  These animals because pests because there were no other animals in nature to prey on them.

Rocks at Birdlings Flat beach

Next we stopped at BIrdlings Flat which is a rock beach.  The rocks have come down from the mountains and have been polished round by the ocean.  We all enjoyed searching for special rocks.  We stopped in a town called Little River to use the bathroom and get ice cream.  I got a flavor called goody, goody, gum drop.  It is green and has little gumdrops in it.  We climbed up into the hills on Banks Peninsula in our bus and looked out over Akaroa harbor.  It was really pretty up there.  The name Akaroa means “long harbor”.  We could see a cruise ship that was in the harbor and saw a carrier hawk.  It was cool and breezy up that high.

Overlooking Akaroa Harbor

Once we got to the town of Akaroa and the students went on their way, we got on a boat called the Fox II.  It used to be an Auckland cargo ship.  Now it is used to teach kids to sail and for nature and dolphin cruises.  We went sailing and saw lots of Hector’s dolphins and New Zealand fur seals, spotted shags and a few blue penguins.  The Hector’s dolphin is the smallest and rarest kind of dolphin in the world.  They came and played along our boat as we sailed along and our captain played music for them.  It was pretty cool!

We even saw a rock that seriously looked like an elephant dipping its trunk in the water.  It even had an eye, an ear and what looked like tusks.  As we were going back to Akaroa, they gave us biscuits and hot chocolate.  Do you know what biscuits are?

Yum- Fish and chips for dinner!

When we got off the boat we had fish and chips for dinner.  Fish and chips is really traditional to eat here in New Zealand because it is a British food.  Most of the first settlers here were British.  The country still is connected to the Queen of England.  Finally we took a group picture when everyone came back and got on the bus to go back to Lincoln.